Seeing that the planting season was not right, Grandpa Xiaoman got quite anxious and upset for a while.

But he had said that he should listen to Jiang Zhi when it came to planting crops, and as an old man, he couldn't carry it on his shoulders or lift it by hand. There was no use in being anxious. He could only run to the edge of the field again and again, and even had to urinate on the ground.

Now that I see Jiang Zhi is going to do some kind of fertilizer ball seedling cultivation again, I'm getting really anxious.

But... he still silently helped with the work.

After mixing the sand with wood ash evenly, Jiang Zhi then mixed it with manure water and decomposed starch water to make wet mud. Finally, he shaped the manure into fist-sized balls and arranged them neatly in the terraced fields.

This is the seedling ball that terrifies her; not only corn seedlings, but cotton seedlings also need to be rubbed in this way.

Xu Errui and his friends had never done this before, and they found it amusing and laughed. So, like dung beetles, they rubbed balls around the smelly dung.

After kneading all the dough, press the corn kernels one by one into the dough balls.

Grandpa Xiaoman, an old farmer, realized what was going on when he saw this: "Errui's mother, the corn stalks are planted in the fertilizer ball, so they don't have to worry about drying out or lacking fertilizer?"

Jiang Zhi's legs went numb from squatting, so she stood up and moved around a bit before saying, "Yes, there's no need to water them with manure anymore, and this way we don't have to worry about missing seedlings or having to replant them. We just need to choose good seedlings when transplanting!"

Grandpa Xiaoman clicked his tongue in admiration: "That's right, I'm not afraid of replanting seedlings. Sigh! It's just that this work is so detailed, I can't keep up when there's a lot of land."

That's true. Jiang Zhi only has a little over an acre of land, and with three strong laborers, it doesn't feel like a hassle.

Seedling cultivation and transplanting requires meticulous work; it simply cannot be done on dozens of acres of land.

Moreover, during this seedling cultivation, Jiang Zhi discovered another problem, which was also the reason for the low grain yield.

These corn kernels are all native varieties, each one round and plump, crystal clear like a bead, and taste very fragrant, but they are too small, not much bigger than a soybean.

Moreover, a corn cob is only about ten centimeters long, and even if it is full of kernels, there are not many. A yield of two hundred jin per mu is considered a bumper harvest.

well!

In order to have enough to eat in the future, Jiang Zhi began to rack her brains, recalling the little things she had done in the past when she helped her parents grow crops.

Press each corn seed into a damp mud ball, and then cover it evenly with a layer of fine soil.

Dozens of cotton seeds were treated in the same way, and the two nurseries were set up in one place to facilitate future water and fertilizer management.

This busy period lasted for three more days. After finishing the work on the seedlings, I will have some free time again.

They're not exactly free, though; there's never a moment when the farm work is finished.

Moreover, Xu Errui and Jiang Zhi had to chase rabbits all over the mountains and fields, while Jiang Zhi had to collect medicinal herbs.

Every day, Xiaoman would walk around the edge of the field, and after that, he would take his machete and chop down the dead trees that could no longer sprout, then split them into firewood and pile them up.

Xiaoman and Qiaoyun spin thread and weave cloth, and even Nini has to gather rabbit grass every day.

The only person who was not actively working was Xu Dazhu.

However, because the weather is warm, he can sometimes leave the kang (a heated brick bed) and lie in the sun in the yard.

In addition, I have much more energy now than before, so I'm looking for things to do.

Unable to move while lying down, but able to move her fingers and wrists, but lacking strength in her arms, Xu Dazhu would twist cotton thread to make it easier for his grandmother to weave cloth.

Of all the people, Jiang Zhi was the most carefree and also the busiest. In addition to digging for medicinal herbs, she also had to dig for bamboo shoots.

The last time the three of them went down the mountain at night to cut bamboo, they found bamboo shoots, but they were worried about being discovered, so they didn't dare to dig them up and just hurriedly brought the bamboo back.

Those tender bamboo shoots kept Jiang Zhi restless for days.

After Jiang Zhi and Xiao Man visited the burned village that day, Xiao Man and Er Rui dug up kudzu roots while keeping an eye on the situation on the official road outside the village.

If things turn out like Aunt Jiang said, and this place becomes a battlefield, then we'll have to hide deeper in the shadows.

After observing for several days, Xiaoman and his group indeed found that there were more and more refugees on the road, and soldiers on horseback were also appearing one after another. The official road in the Xujia Village area was busier than before.

But those people only glanced at the village, which had been burned to the ground, before turning away and showing no interest whatsoever in the equally charred mountains nearby.

This discovery put Jiang Zhi at ease. With disciplined soldiers passing by, the road was under control, making it safer.

The location of the battlefield was uncertain, but at least for now, it seemed unlikely that there would be any looting or robbery by groups of refugees in this area, so she put bamboo shoot digging on her schedule.

Unlike eating locust flowers or houttuynia cordata, when the two families saw Jiang Zhi carrying back a bunch of bamboo shoots with their fuzzy shells still attached, they were all shocked.

Even Xu Errui, who was usually very supportive, didn't give his mother any face. The bamboo shoot husks had prickly hairs, so he didn't dare touch them and could only kick the bamboo shoots away with his feet: "Mom, these things don't taste good!"

"Why isn't it tasty? It's bamboo shoots! If you won't eat these tender bamboo shoot tips, I will!" Jiang Zhi slapped away the troublesome Xu Errui.

Beside her, Qiaoyun, who was more than six months pregnant, also frowned: "Mother, these bamboo shoots are very bitter, I can't eat them!"

People used to dig up bamboo shoots and eat them, but no matter how they were washed and stewed, they were always terribly bitter, so no one ate them anymore after a while.

I don't like bamboo shoots!

Jiang Zhi could hardly believe her ears. To leave such a refreshing and delicious meal untouched was like being struck by lightning.

"It's okay, I have a way to get you to eat it!" Jiang Zhi happily peeled the bamboo shoot.

Stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork, braised bamboo shoots with beef... Forget about it, the oil here is too precious. Jiang Zhi has never even tasted stir-fried food. So, the only option is to stew bamboo shoots with some spicy rabbit meat.

Jiang Zhi felt a sour taste rising in her mouth, completely unaware that there was anything wrong with what she had said.

Beside him, Xu Errui's face turned green: "Mother wants to eat it herself! That bamboo shoot is really bitter."

Every household in Xujia Village has a bamboo grove, and tender bamboo shoots are available almost all year round.

There are many varieties of bamboo shoots. Apart from a small number of spring bamboo shoots, the most common bamboo shoots in summer are bitter bamboo shoots, which taste extremely bitter and are really inedible without careful processing.

First, peel off the outer skin of the bitter bamboo shoot to reveal the pointed bamboo shoot heart. At this time, it looks white and tender, but it is actually bitter and cannot be eaten.

Jiang Zhi cut the bamboo shoots in half and put them into a large pot with water that had been added beforehand. After the water boiled, she added the bamboo shoots and cooked them for one to two hours.

Cook the bamboo shoots until they soften, then remove them, rinse them with cold water, slice them thinly, and soak them in clean water for a day, changing the water two or three times during the process.

She spent three days cooking and soaking a basket of bamboo shoots, and both families watched over her silently for those three days.

Seeing that Jiang Zhi wanted to eat bamboo shoots, Xiaoman's grandmother didn't say much, but quietly said to Qiaoyun, "Your mother wants to cook. How much salt do you have left? My family doesn't eat much salt, so if you don't have enough, you can take some from my house."

Qiaoyun thought about her family's nearly empty salt jar and shook her head: "Mother said the salt can still be used for a while, so there's no need to worry."

The salt in the salt jar is almost gone, but there's still a big bag of salt stones collected from the village. It's a pity that you have to break them up before you can use them; otherwise, if you throw them in hard, they'll break through the bottom of the pot.